Coldplay’s Status As “That iTunes Band” Remains Unchallenged

Yesterday the iTunes Store released its year-end lists, and while its “best of” lists are somewhat intriguing (the albums rundown is topped by Raphael Saadiq, while the “Best Songs” list has both Motley Crue’s “Saints Of Los Angeles” and Hercules & Love Affair’s “Blind” in its top 10), it’s the sales charts, of course, that allow us to place our collective finger somewhere near the pulse of those people who buy albums from the comfort of their cubicles/drunken late-night outings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida—which was promoted heavily by an ad for the iTunes Store—is the top-selling album of the year. Top 50 is after the jump, but first, a few impressions.

THE GOOD: I don’t know why, but there’s something hilarious about Disturbed’s Indestructible (No. 28) being nestled between Paramore and the soundtrack for Sex And The City.THE BAD: The overall MOR-ness of the chart—Leona, Amy, Duffy, Colbie, even Counting Crows all the way down at No. 43—shouldn’t be all that surprising, although I did raise my eyebrows at the notion that enough people bought the OneRepublic album that it landed in the top 10. I know digital sales are a fraction of overall album sales even now, but really? Is the power of Timbaland’s “ay”-ing that profound?THE WHAAA? For all its power as a singles-sales force, there sure were a lot of soundtracks that flew off iTunes’ virtual shelves—10 in the top 50 alone, including the Juno soundtrack, which placed third overall. Also in the upper reaches of the year-end chart: The Across The Universe soundtrack, probably because it brought together Bono and Evan Rachel Wood; and the unkillable Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack (No. 24—right ahead of Duffy!). Although if you click through you’ll see that its most popular track by a far, far margin is whatever version of “The Christmas Song” has been included on the disc. For some reason, this comforts me a lot.

I believe for a couple of weeks in January, iTunes had an exclusive on the Juno soundtrack, which would explain in part its high placement; at least a week or two of its sales were outsize because of that exclusive. And even when the disc was released to retail, stores were slow to pick it up at first, because its sales took everyone by surprise. So while it’s clearly in iTunes’ Garden State pocket and would’ve sold well there regardless, there was a bit of supply-and-demand fueling it, too.

the rich girls are weeping

I’m sorry, all I can think here is: Stuff White People Like.

dreamsneverend

As goofy as it is, this chart is FAR more interesting than the normal Billboard ones.

@Maura Johnston: So I hit 50% Idolator-approved, or at least Maura-approved. I’ll take that. Poor Weezer didn’t make the cut. Not even for “research” purposes?

(And really, you don’t have Legend? I mean, I know its cliche, pretty much the only reggae album anyone owns and I didn’t get my copy until a couple of years ago, but I assumed everyone had a copy of that album somewhere. Sometimes you just gotta hear “I Shot The Sheriff.”)